


light, shadow, make-believe

by alwaysunabridged (xphile)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben is a bigshot actor, Ben is accidentally a pompous idiot, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Hollywood but not, Pretend Relationship - but not between who you might think, Rey is a writer who has to interview him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:48:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23735632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xphile/pseuds/alwaysunabridged
Summary: To: rey.niima@thedispatch.comFrom: chewie@holonetmail.comSubject: SpoiledI thought journalists were supposed to be objective.- - - -To: chewie@holonetmail.comFrom: rey.niima@thedispatch.comSubject: ObjectiveI thought celebrities were supposed to be charming.- - - -To: rey.niima@thedispatch.comFrom: chewie@holonetmail.comSubject: CharmingOh, you wanted me to be charming, then?
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 47
Kudos: 246





	1. Chapter 1

“Amilyn wants to see you,” Kaydel says without preamble, one eyebrow lifting slightly, a hint of a question in her voice. 

Rey’s first instinct is to panic, though she knows she shouldn’t. She’d just turned in her profile on the female NASA engineer who designed the first shuttle with the ability to travel through hyperspace at twice the usual speed. She had a couple of days of semi-freedom, which in her case meant spending the bulk of her time in the office editing 5,000-word feature articles, before she has to start thinking about the routine tasks that need to be ticked off for next month’s features.

“Good morning to you, too,” Rey says jauntily. She deposits her leather work tote in her office, right next to Kaydel’s, insulated tea cup in hand as she heads toward Amilyn Holdo’s office in the opposite corner of the penthouse floor occupied by The Dispatch.

Most people on the staff were already in, either catching up over coffee at their desks or reading emails before starting their day. It was that lull between working on the magazine’s monthly issues, with articles coming in from contributors and getting prepped by the layout artists, so staff writers and editors had a window of calm before getting swept up in the grind of checking page proofs and making sure everything goes to press as scheduled.

“Hi,” Rey says, tapping a finger lightly on her boss’s door before closing it behind her. “You wanted to see me?” She’d always loved Amilyn’s office, with its picture windows and bright natural light. Amilyn was usually frowning in concentration at something on her monitor whenever Rey came in here, and today was no different. 

“Rey!” Amilyn exclaims, tucking a strand of lavender hair behind one ear and turning from the monitor to face her. “I love your feature on the NASA engineer behind the Millennium Falcon—it’s just the right balance of fascinating science and relatable female empowerment. She sounds amazing.”

“She is,” Rey replies, taking one of the chairs in front of Amilyn’s desk. “It was all so interesting, it didn’t really feel like an interview. We spent practically a whole day talking about things like black holes and stellar dynamics and the mentoring program that she’s starting.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I know how much you love working on features like this.” Amilyn straightens in her seat, taking a deep inhale. “I wanted to talk to you today because…you know Rose is away working on that Force Wars story for another two days.”

Rey nods. Rose is the editor for the entertainment section and had been very excited to go on location for a feature on the third and final installment of the movie franchise, which had turned into a pop-culture phenomenon.

“Well, Maz has just asked if we’d be interested in doing a feature on the stars of The Last Saber—you’re familiar with it?” 

“Vaguely,” Rey nods again, her eyebrows wrinkling. Amilyn and Maz Kanata went to college together, and while Amilyn had worked her way up to editor-in-chief at The Dispatch, Maz had started a PR firm right after graduating. She had a knack for taking on struggling actors who were just starting out but showed talent, so now she handled some of the biggest celebrities in Galactic City. The Last Saber was one of the year’s most anticipated films—even Rey knew that, and she wasn’t really the movie-watching type.

“It’ll be an exclusive, and the only time available for the interviews is tomorrow, so I’d like you to do it.”

Rey suppresses a rising feeling of dread. “Oh! Um…you don’t want to assign it to one of the staff writers in Rose’s section?”

Amilyn shakes her head. “None of them are experienced enough to deal with something this big, and I’d really rather not take any unnecessary risks, to be honest.” She pauses. “Look, Rey, I know things like this aren’t your cup of tea. But right now you’re the only one I trust to be able to handle these interviews, and Rose agrees with me. Just think of it as another human-interest profile—you might even end up having fun with it.”

Rey almost snorts, then stops herself. She’d rather volunteer to man the Millennium Falcon alone and possibly get lost forever in hyperspace than interview a couple of spoiled celebrities, but it’s not like she could say no to the editor-in-chief. “Okay.”

“Fantastic. Maz’s team will email you the details.” 

She’s already on her phone as she walks back to her office, shooting Rose a quick text. _You owe me big time, Tico._ It’s about 4:30 p.m. where she was, and the reply comes almost instantly. _Celeb interviews aren’t THAT bad, Niima. I think you might actually enjoy yourself! Sooo excited for you! xox_

“So?” Kaydel is in Rey’s office, leaning against her desk. “What’s with all the secrecy?”

Rey huffs. “Maz offered The Dispatch an exclusive for The Last Saber. Amilyn wants me to interview the stars tomorrow.”

Kaydel squeals. “REY! Do you know whose oxygen you’ll be sharing tomorrow?! Oh my god!” Kaydel takes over Rey’s keyboard and types a name into the holonet search field. Poe Dameron. “I’ve only seen him in bit parts before; this is his first big role. But he’s so good—I think I saw his last movie five times just to savor all three minutes of his screen time!”

Rey stares at the holonet image results. “Okay, great, you can help me think of questions. Actually, wait, don’t you want to do this instead?” Was that a note of desperation in her voice? As beauty editor, Kaydel’s expertise lay in identifying cool, up-and-coming cosmetics brands, not doing in-depth features on high-profile personalities, and they both knew it. 

“Right, so I can ask him about his favorite foundation,” Kaydel laughs. She types in a few other keywords as Rey’s phone dings with a text message.

Finn, as expected. Work had thrown them together only two years before, but they’d gotten along so well he was now a regular fixture at Rey and Rose’s apartment. He was also one of the senior strategists at Maz’s firm. _Heard you’re doing the interviews tomorrow. That is SO awesome. I can’t wait for you to meet Poe. You’ll love him. We’ll email all the info in a few._

She types a quick reply. _Kind of feeling out of my element. But thanks! Can’t wait to meet Poe. Kaydel was just gushing about him. He’s cute!_

 _Very, very cute._ Finn’s reply is punctuated with three heart-eyes emojis and Rey laughs.

“Hmm. I think the interview you really have to be prepared for is the one with his co-star,” Kaydel says, looking at her computer.

“Who’s his co-star?”

“He’s more of a big shot—he’s been nominated for some awards a couple of times, I think. Very serious I’m-an-artist type. I mean, he’s great, he’s just…intense. Rose interviewed him last year for that historical drama of his and her article made the rounds online because she called him a ‘grumpy dark lord.’” Kaydel turns the monitor to face Rey. She’d pulled up an old feature on The Dispatch’s website.

“Ben Solo,” Rey reads aloud, taking in the dark hair and angular features. “Famous offspring of famous celebrity couple Han Solo and Leia Organa.” She rolls her eyes. “Sounds like someone who really had to work to get to the top.”

***

“Ms. Niima? They’re ready for you.”

Rey follows the headset-wearing, clipboard-toting production assistant through the set, weaving through camera tripods and bundles of cables snaking along the floor. Poe was apparently still working on a scene, she’d been told, so she’d be talking to Ben Solo first. She wipes her damp palms on her skirt, hating the onset of her usual pre-interview jitters. They are just regular people who play pretend in front of a camera for a living, she thinks to herself, but honestly, she’d probably be less anxious if she were interviewing Einstein himself.

 _I don’t know why I’m nervous. I hate you. Wish me luck_ , she texts Rose. 

_You don’t need it! You will rock. It’ll be a breeze_. If she weren’t grappling with her nerves, she’d be amused by Rose’s reply. She truly didn’t know why she was so nervous, and it was starting to get annoying. There was always a little bit of apprehension whenever she was on her way to do an interview, mostly because she knew there was an infinite number of things that could go wrong and getting as much as she could out of a single conversation was an essential part of her job, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t done this before. With people who were much more important, in the grand scheme of things. Damn Kaydel and her serious-artist-intense-dark-lord warning. 

She’s led into an air-conditioned tent with a couple of couches and a big table laden with rows of glass-bottled water and all kinds of food, from sliced deli sandwiches to cheese and crackers to an assortment of fruits. 

“Wait here, please. And help yourself to anything to eat,” the PA says, then leaves.

Taking a deep breath, Rey surveys the room and the food. Might as well eat something, she shrugs, then takes a small bunch of grapes. She hadn’t eaten lunch because of the butterflies in her stomach and knew she’d be famished by the time the interviews were through.

“…better things to do than…” She stops with a grape halfway to her mouth, suddenly finding herself inadvertently eavesdropping on snatches of a conversation happening somewhere nearby. 

She hears a muffled response from a female voice. 

“Listen,” the first voice, very deep and very male, rises a notch. “I hate it because I get asked asinine questions by half-baked journalists who are after nothing but gossip.”

What the fuck. Rey pops all the remaining grapes in her mouth and steps back out the way she came, looking for the girl who led her into the tent. Suddenly she can hear nothing but the rush of her own blood, torn somewhere between blind outrage and inexplicable embarrassment. _Deep breaths_ , she thinks, trying to calm down. _Deep breaths, Rey._

She takes her phone and starts a text to Finn, then stops. Rose? She hesitates, then shoves the phone back in her bag. She can’t gripe to either of them right now. And she can’t leave, obviously. She had to do this interview. She had to go back in there, smile through her questions, pretend she wasn’t wishing she could unleash a foul torrent of righteous indignation at this person. This person who—who can’t even _deign_ to do something that is presumably part of his job. Rey squares her shoulders and steps back into the tent. She’s interviewed difficult people before. She could be professional. 

A heavy canvas curtain at the far end of the tent is opened just as Rey gets back inside, revealing a petite brunette. She smiles brightly at Rey. “Oh, great, you’re here! I’m Tallie Lintra, from Maz’s team.” 

“Hi, I’m Rey Niima.” They shake hands, and Tallie gestures to one of the couches. 

“Please, have a seat. Ben will be out in a sec. Just a couple of reminders—you’ll have ten minutes, no personal questions. You got the production notes and the actor bios?”

“Yes, Finn emailed everything yesterday,” Rey answers while taking her notebook and pen out of her tote. She didn’t really need them; they were only kept in her bag for backup. And for times when she knew she would have a hard time looking a person in the eye during an interview and would have to busy herself pretending to take notes.

“Okay, great,” Tallie says just as a six-foot-four tree of a man in jeans and a black T-shirt comes in, his face blank. “Rey Niima, this is Ben Solo. Ben, Rey is with The Dispatch. Have a good interview; I’ll go check if Poe is ready and be back in ten minutes.”

Rey stands to shake his hand, craning her neck to look up at his unreadable dark eyes before her gaze skitters away. Suddenly she understands what Kaydel meant when she said he was intense. He was looking at her in a way that made her feel overwhelmingly self-conscious, and his height only added to her unease. She feels downright tiny, and she isn’t even short. The handshake is brief, perfunctory, with her wanting to limit physical contact to the barest minimum. “Good afternoon, Mr. Solo, thank you for meeting with me.”

“Please, call me Ben,” he says, waiting for her to sit back down before taking a seat beside her, leaving a healthy distance between them on the couch. He eyes her phone warily when she takes it out.

“I’ll use my phone to record the interview, if that’s alright with you,” Rey explains while tamping down a flash of irritation. _Nope, wasn’t going to ask for a photo, Mr. Famous Movie Star._

He nods. A beat of silence as she taps to the voice recorder app. “You’re with The Dispatch? There was this piece I read last month about a non-profit that’s working on getting conglomerates to switch to clean energy. Pretty good stuff.”

Rey’s head snaps up from her phone. There’s an odd sensation that springs up somewhere inside her—either from surprise at his apparent effort at small talk, or from him complimenting her work, if unknowingly. She doesn’t want to pinpoint which. “The feature on The Resistance? You read that?” 

“Yes.” He’s studying her face. “You sound surprised.”

She shakes her head. “It’s not the kind of reading material I would’ve thought you’d go for, that’s all.”

He raises an eyebrow but stays quiet.

“I’ll start with my questions, if you don’t mind,” Rey says, vaguely flustered. “You play a smuggler in something of a heist movie that’s set in space. What kind of preparation does a role like that require?”

“There was a lot of sci-fi movie binge-watching. And the occasional Star Trek convention. I cosplayed. Getting the makeup on and off was a challenge.”

His deadpan delivery was almost flawless, if one corner of his mouth hadn’t quirked up a fraction.

“Fantastic. And did you dress up as a Klingon or a Ferengi?” Two could play this game, and she’s had to sit through enough Star Trek marathons with Rose and Finn that she could hold her own.

“Vulcan, actually.” Deep brown eyes betray an amused gleam. Rey grits her teeth. “The ears were the easiest part.”

She chokes back a horrified laugh. 

He gets up and goes to the catering table to get two bottles of water, comes back to the couch and gives her one, expression still neutral. 

“Obviously it’s not something you can prepare for in the same way you would for a typical movie, but if you think about it, this person is really just trying to survive in the best way he knows how, even if that involves doing things that aren’t quite above board,” he pauses, considering his next words. 

Rey finds herself nodding as she takes notes; she’d seen the teasers. “He doesn’t pretend to be perfect.”

“Right. He’s kind of a smug asshole, which was fun to play.” 

“Naturally.” It’s out before she realizes it and Rey bites her tongue, mortified. Thankfully, he just continues. 

“There was the physical aspect too, because it’s a heist that involves blaster fights and chase scenes, but the training it required wasn’t extreme.”

“Speaking of blaster fights, most of your previous films have been dramas and this is your first one that’s got a bit more action in it. Which parts of working in the two different genres do you enjoy best?”

There’s silence as he looks at her for a few seconds, regarding her so steadily Rey has to resist the urge to squirm. “There’s a certain satisfaction in doing scenes that demand more from you physically—you go to work, you get banged up doing take after take of a sequence that puts your character in a scuffle and at the end of the day you’re dead tired, but the stunt coordinators are so great at what they do that it’s the good kind of tired and the next day you wake up looking forward to doing it all over again.” Finally, he looks away, his eyes wandering somewhere over her right shoulder as he absently presses his fingers against his lower lip, thinking. “In a drama, the challenge is more internal because I’m always most interested in understanding what would push my character to make certain choices, or relate to others a certain way.”

How is it possible to feel simultaneously annoyed and impressed with someone, Rey wonders. “Based on my research, part of your process is working closely with your co-star. How did that help in this film?”

The shift would have been imperceptible if she hadn’t been looking at him: his expression hardly changes, but something in his eyes seems to shutter, the warm brown turning just a little bit cold. “The process is meant to flesh out the way characters behave in a scene. I’m sure Tash would tell you the same.”

“Oh—” Tallie comes back in right then, cutting off Rey’s clarification. She’d been thinking of Poe Dameron when she said “co-star,” not Tash Arranda—celebrity A-lister, gorgeous blonde, and, Rey belatedly recalls, princess-slash-love interest to Ben Solo’s smuggler.

“Everything good?” Tallie says brightly. “Poe’s ready for his interview.”

“Yes, we’re done,” Ben says firmly as he stands. “Thank you, Rey.” He’s given her another quick handshake and is gone with Tallie before she can say another word, and then suddenly Poe Dameron is standing before her with a big smile.

“Hey, Rey! You want to grab some coffee? There’s this great place right across the street and I’m done for the day so I can get out of here.”

“Coffee would be good. Or, well, tea, actually. I think I just made a member of Galactic City celebrity royalty want to blacklist me forever.” She follows his lead, feeling instantly more at ease as they leave the cordoned-off set and walk to the corner to cross.

“Who, Ben?” Poe chuckles. “He’s not as grouchy as he seems.” This was the first time they’d met, but Poe is much more laid-back than his co-star, never mind that he’s an up-and-coming actor who’s playing one of the leads in a big-budget movie. In the five minutes it takes them to walk to the cafe, they get stopped twice by fans who ask him shyly for photos, and he gamely agrees.

“Oh, so it’s normal for him to look like he’d rather get a colonoscopy than be interviewed?”

He lets out a short bark of laughter. “Finn told me you had a deadly sense of humor. Ouch. Was it that bad?”

Rey grins. “Okay, fine, I was exaggerating. Maybe he just looked like he’d rather get a root canal.”

***

There are random bits of scratch paper strewn over her desk and she’s on her third cup of tea for the day. Rey chews the inside of her cheek, her right leg bouncing impatiently. She’s halfway through the first draft for her article on The Last Saber, and as usual, she’s wrangling the urge to edit as she writes. It was all part of her process, really, but birthing a big feature always felt like she was running a marathon. Besides which, she kept getting distracted by Ben Solo’s voice in her recording, causing the transcribing to take twice as long. She also kept cringing inwardly whenever she thought back to the way the interview ended.

When an email notification pops up, she shushes the voice in the back of her head admonishing her for procrastinating. 

To: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
From: chewie@holonetmail.com  
Subject: Interview

Hi, Rey.

I realize I ended our interview rather abruptly yesterday—chalk it up to my extreme discomfort at having to talk about myself for more than two minutes. That probably sounds like complete bullshit coming from someone in my line of work, but I guess they don’t call me Grumpy Dark Lord for nothing. 

If you have any follow-up questions, you know where to reach me.

Ben

\- - - -

Rey stares at the email for a full minute, ignoring the rapid increase in her heart rate. He’d quoted Rose’s article. If she weren’t so shocked by his message—Poe had probably said something to him—she’d be almost thrilled for her friend. Although…does he think this makes up for his pompous brusqueness? _Half-baked journalist_. She bristles, types a perfectly polite reply, and sends it before she can think twice.

\- - - -

To: chewie@holonetmail.com  
From: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
Subject: Re: Interview

Dear Mr. Solo,

Thank you for your email; I appreciate your magnanimity. As it happens, I’m all out of asinine questions.

Rey Niima

\- - - -

The reply comes almost instantly.

\- - - -

To: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
From: chewie@holonetmail.com  
Subject: Asinine

In that case, maybe you could answer one of mine: Are you always this rude to your interview subjects?

\- - - -

Rey gapes at her monitor, her fingers poised over the keyboard. 

\- - - -  
To: chewie@holonetmail.com  
From: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
Subject: Rude

Only the spoiled ones.

\- - - -

To: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
From: chewie@holonetmail.com  
Subject: Spoiled

And here I thought journalists were supposed to be objective.

\- - - -

To: chewie@holonetmail.com  
From: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
Subject: Objective

And here I thought celebrities were supposed to be charming.

\- - - -

To: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
From: chewie@holonetmail.com  
Subject: Charming

Oh, so you wanted me to be charming, then?

\- - - -

Rey chokes on her tea. 

“Hi, Rey, you busy?”

She jumps, guiltily closing her email window at the sight of Amilyn peering in from the doorway, coffee cup indicating she’d just come from the break room and was walking by on her way back to her office. “Nope! Just working on my draft for those interviews. What’s up?”

“The shoot for the feature on The Last Saber is happening today at White Space Studios, and I told Maz we’d drop by. Let’s leave in a half hour?”

“Sure! Yes! I’ll be ready.” Her stomach lets out a faint flutter. She drains the rest of her tea to drown it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags have been edited a bit. :)

Photo shoots had a frenetic energy to them that Rey usually enjoyed: she liked being able to add her input for her features’ visuals, and watching from the sidelines while the art director and photographer did their thing. Today, though, she walks into the studio with hands so clammy she pushes them deep into her trouser pockets to warm them, feeling quite irritated with herself for her failure to calm down. She’s also feeling irritated with Ben Solo for making her this nervous—which she knows makes no sense—while at the same time not wanting to be unfriendly because of course that would be unprofessional. It all added up to her feeling slightly off-kilter.

Finn had assured her he’d be around, so she scans the room as soon as she steps in behind Amilyn, relief washing over her when she spots him at the far end of the studio talking to Poe. 

The studio occupied one large warehouse with bare white walls and bare floors, a makeup area with big lit mirrors straight ahead to her left, the catering table set up along one long wall. Snap Wexley was one of The Dispatch’s regular photographers and he’d already started, his camera flash coinciding with a key light and fill light, a subdued pop going off with each shot. He was surrounded by assistants and stylists along with the magazine’s art director, Bebe, who was looking intently at the digital photos showing up in a monitor nearby. Music blares from the speakers.

“My dears, hello!” Maz had been standing behind Snap, watching, but turned to Amilyn and Rey when they came in. She and Amilyn kiss cheeks in greeting. “Ben is almost done, I think, unless Snap decides he wants to shoot more. It’s gone pretty quickly so far.”

While Amilyn chats with Maz, Rey looks beyond Snap and sees Ben standing in front of a plain gray backdrop in tailored jeans and a plain black sweater, his hair looking carefully, carelessly tousled. She wasn’t sure if he could see her with all the lights aimed at him, but he looked relaxed, if unsmiling, while Snap made some quick adjustments to his lighting. 

“I hear your interview went well,” Maz says conspiratorially, looping an arm around Rey’s. Amilyn had walked over to Finn and Poe and she hadn’t even noticed. “It’s not often Ben agrees to these things; he’s always hated doing press, but he actually told me he enjoyed his conversation with you. I nearly passed out.”

A surprised laugh escapes Rey. He’d told his publicist that he enjoyed the interview? “I’m so glad to hear that,” she says to Maz. He seemed to have the distinct talent of making her feel constantly confused. “I was a little worried, to be honest. About my last question. It was supposed to be about his process with Poe but he thought I was asking about Tash Arranda.”

“Scandalous.” Maz smiles, amused. “Don’t worry about it, Rey. Between you and me, I think it’s good for him to get pushed out of his comfort zone once in a while. Loosen up a bit.”

“Can’t be easy having such big shoes to fill, I’d imagine,” Rey thinks out loud, wondering what it must have been like to grow up in the periphery of his famous parents’ spotlight.

Maz looks thoughtfully at her for a minute. “You know, it’s been long enough that the story almost sounds like some banal on-set rumor now, but Han Solo was something of a heartbreaker. It was always just friendly, of course, and it worked in his career’s favor, but the rags were always after him, and it was no walk in the park for Leia.”

Rey had been wondering why he seemed so averse to doing an interview—when she did her research she’d hardly found anything about him, save for a couple of articles and photos of him attending events with celebrity ex-girlfriends, the most recent one taken a year before. She hadn’t known his antipathy had deeper roots. She has no time to formulate a response to Maz, though, before Amilyn is back with Poe and Finn. “My favorite coffee buddy!” Poe says warmly, giving her a quick hug. “How’ve you been?”

“Great! Fended off any fans today?” Rey teases, and Poe actually blushes as he lets out an embarrassed laugh.

Maz steps toward Ben, who’s just finished with his shoot. “Ben, darling, have a bite to eat. Rey and I were just catching up about your interview.”

He quirks an eyebrow at Rey. “Were you.”

“Yes, I was telling Maz about your cosplay quote,” Rey says, straight-faced. “And how you did your research with a sci-fi marathon.”

Maz laughingly nudges them in the direction of the catering table, staying behind to oversee Poe’s shoot. 

Ben is silent as he surveys the food, Rey thinking of how to extricate herself from this awkwardness in the most polite way possible. “That was a joke, I’m not putting that in the article,” she starts.

“I didn’t think you would.” He pours himself a cup of coffee and takes a sip, then finally looks at her. 

“Oh, okay. Great.” She chews briefly on her lower lip. “Listen, I’m sorry about that last question—well, not the question itself because I was thinking about Poe and not Tash—but, for the record, I wasn’t trying to get any dirt on you.”

He nods, takes a beat before replying. “For the record, I don’t think you’re a half-baked journalist.” 

“Just a rude one,” she quips.

“I guess we have that in common,” he smiles.

“Wait, you’re a rude journalist, too?” She cracks, then immediately wishes she hadn’t. 

But he actually laughs, and it’s so unexpected Rey feels an irrational thrill from having caused it. She finds herself wanting to say something else to prolong the conversation even as a part of her scoffs at that. Isn’t Rose always telling her to live in the moment?

Her brain, though, refuses to cooperate, and she draws a blank as she stares at the crinkles around his eyes.

The spell breaks when he clears his throat.

“Are you busy after this?” He sounds almost hesitant. “I still feel bad about yesterday, so…”

“So you’re giving me a do-over?” She raises an eyebrow. “There’s really no need…”

“Oh—”

“…but I’m not busy. I just need to finish writing this article, come to think of it, but I’ve been looking for a reason to put it off,” she says wryly.

“Hmm. I think that’s something I could help you with.”

“Hey, Solo! Snap wants a shot of us together,” Poe hollers. 

Ben puts down his coffee, visibly stifling a long-suffering sigh. “If you’ll excuse me, my co-star demands my presence.”

Rey is chuckling as Finn approaches. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so giggly,” he says.

“I am not giggling.” Her indignation would have been more convincing if her cheeks weren’t red. 

Finn puts his hands up in mock surrender, amused. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing! Just that you should be ready to hear Rose say ‘I told you so.’”

“Well, I tried my best to not enjoy myself,” Rey laughs. “But I guess working on celebrity interviews isn’t so terrible.”

“Especially when your subject is so hot?” 

“Is he? I hadn’t noticed.”

Finn guffaws. 

***

Rey tugs the strap of her tote higher up on her shoulder, trying her best to stop herself from shifting restlessly from foot to foot. She’d had to go back to the office with Amilyn because she needed to pick up her laptop, and Ben had told her he’d drive over and pick her up as soon as he’d changed into his own clothes after the shoot. So now she’s on the pavement in front of The Dispatch’s building, stomach butterflies back in full force.

There had been a battle raging in her mind the whole time she’d been with Amilyn, wondering if she should tell her, but she didn’t think there was more to this than just Ben wanting to make up for his accidental rudeness. Besides, staying on good terms with people she’s profiled was a practice she’s learned to develop.

A sleek black car stops in front of her, and the tinted passenger window slides down to reveal a smiling Ben. “Hi.”

She flashes a friendly smile back and gets in. “Hi.”

“So what do you usually do when you’re pretending you don’t have a deadline looming?” His eyes are on the road as he navigates through early-evening traffic.

“Pace around my room, and once I’m tired of that, pace around the apartment. It drives my roommate crazy,” she admits.

He gives her an amused glance. “Let’s spare your roommate, then. What else?”

“Eat?” It’s an honest answer, but she didn’t want to suggest getting dinner. She could also mention that Rose is out of town, but implying they could go to her apartment was definitely not an option.

“Eating sounds good, actually. Know any good places nearby?”

Rey does, in fact, know of plenty of good places nearby, but they obviously couldn’t go to just any place without him possibly getting recognized. So she directs him to a hole-in-the-wall that serves burritos and tacos and beer, so tiny it can only seat precisely eight people, but the food is good and she’s there often enough that she’s gotten to know the owner, who’s also the chef.

“Hey, Artie,” she calls out in greeting as they step in. To her relief, the usual dinner rush hadn’t started yet.

“Good to see you, Rey! What’ll it be tonight?” He chirps from behind the counter. “The usual?”

She looks up at Ben, who’s looking at the handwritten menu hanging behind Artie. The cantina is made up of worn-out wooden tables and stools, concrete floors, and dim lights, and suddenly she’s wondering if this was a terrible idea. “Do you eat burritos? Sorry, I should have asked earlier.”

“Yeah, I do,” he says, and then turns to Artie. “I’ll have whatever she’s having.”

Rey sees recognition flash in Artie’s eyes before he gives her an amused look. “Two beef burritos and two sodas, coming right up. Take a seat, I’ll bring them over.” 

They choose a corner table so he can sit with his back to the door, and Rey lets out a guilty laugh as she watches him fold himself onto a small stool. “I clearly did not think this through.”

“No, it’s fine,” he’s laughing too. “It’s a nice change from the usual.”

“The usual being linen tablecloths and tuxedo-clad waiters?”

He shakes his head. “I hardly ever eat out. Too much trouble.”

“You could always wear a disguise,” she suggests helpfully.

“I tried once. My fake mustache fell into my soup.”

“No, you didn’t! Did you really?”

He’s already chuckling. “No, I didn’t.”

Artie arrives with their food and drinks, and puts a small mountain of nachos on the table too. “On the house. Enjoy.” They thank him profusely, and he heads back to the counter. More people are starting to trickle in.

“I looked for that article on The Resistance that we talked about,” Ben says after they’ve started on their food. “Funny, I apparently know the writer.”

“Amazing,” she says cheekily. “Brilliant and award-worthy, then?”

“Life-changing,” he replies, and her stomach flips from the way he’s looking at her, but it’s gone again in an instant so she wonders if she imagined it. He ponders the nachos, pops one in his mouth. “Did you always want to be a writer?”

Rey nods. “I spent a lot of time in social work offices as a child and all they ever had to read were old copies of National Geographic or Time. I’d get so excited whenever I found one with a cover story on anything science-related, like black holes or supernovas. It seemed like such an incredible thing, to get to talk to all sorts of people and not be limited to learning about one thing forever.” She is suddenly conscious that she’s probably rambling. “What about you, did you always want to be an actor?”

“I guess you could say I fell into it,” he shrugs. “I grew up around movie sets and it started with the occasional bit part when I was a kid—they’d have me say one line and that was it—but I hated the idea when I got older; wanted to ‘forge my own path’ as a stereotypical rebellious teenager.” There’s amusement in his voice. “It all seemed so fake and the thought of having your personal life so out in the open was just…” he shakes his head.

“Doesn’t sound so stereotypical to me.”

“Anyway. The irony was that I enjoyed it, figuring out what makes a character what he is and getting to play that out for a living. And I realized that you can control what you put out there, so. Here I am.”

“Here you are.” She’s polished off her burrito and can’t quite get herself to look at him. 

“Having nachos in a sidewalk cantina with a science nerd masquerading as a writer.” 

“Don’t you mean, helping a dazzlingly talented wordsmith pretend she doesn’t have a deadline?”

He chuckles. They’re done eating, and Rey gives Artie a quick wave goodbye before they duck out and head back to his car.  
It was one of those days when it wouldn’t get dark until late, and the sky had splashes of subdued pinks and oranges. They are quiet through the entire drive to her place, Rey having given him directions as they left the cantina. The duplex apartment that she shares with Rose is just a little over five minutes away, on a relatively quiet street, and when he stops in front of it, he keeps his hands on the steering wheel as he turns to her. “Thank you, Rey,” he says quietly, his eyes unreadable in the soft yellow light of the dashboard. “This was fun.”

“Thanks, good night,” she replies and steps out, then gives him a little wave from the path to the front door. She resists the urge to look back before stepping inside.

***

To: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
From: chewie@holonetmail.com  
Subject: Why?

Here’s one thing I’ve always wondered about the holonet: Why do people keep posting videos of kittens falling asleep? 

Also: Why do people keep watching them?

[link]

\- - - 

Rey squints bleary-eyed at her phone screen, tapping on the link he sent and watching a minute-long video of an adorably sleepy kitten. It’s eight in the morning and she’s still in bed, having stayed up to finish the draft for her article. She’d also tossed and turned for hours, trying not to think about dark-brown eyes and soft-looking lips quirking up in amusement. _He just wanted to feel less assholey about his unintentional asshole episode, Rey_. She hadn’t expected their correspondence to continue, but now she could feel a stupid grin forming on her face.

\- - - 

To: chewie@holonetmail.com  
From: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
Subject: Gasp

How dare you disparage the cutest things to ever grace the holonet, sir. 

P.S. “Chewie”?

\- - -

She’d just hit ‘send’ when she hears a loud bang from the outside, someone having unceremoniously thrown open the apartment door. “Rey?” Rose calls out, sounding frantic. “Are you awake?”

“Rose? What’s wrong?” She’d completely forgotten Rose was scheduled to return today. Rey jumps out of bed to meet her roommate in the living room downstairs. 

“Have you seen this?” Rose holds her phone, worry etched across her face. “I saw it while I was doing my usual morning trawl online, on my way home.”

 _Rising Star’s New Love?_ The celebrity news site’s headline read, and as Rey scrolls down she sees photos of Poe Dameron laughing—with _her_. They’d been taken during their brief walk to the cafe for his interview. The article was short and it didn’t identify her, but it was filled with outrageous speculation about Poe’s supposed new relationship with her, all from anonymous sources, all of them completely untrue.

Her stomach drops. “Bloody _hell_!!!” A million questions are running through her brain. Where was the photographer when he took the photos? What is Amilyn going to say? What idiot would think Poe was dating her? How can she get her hands on that photographer so she could punch him? “ _Bloody hell_ ,” she says again, falling into the sofa with her head in her hands. 

“Oh, Rey,” Rose says consolingly, rubbing between her shoulders. “It’ll be fine, you’ll be fine.” She checks her phone again. “Er…”

“What?”

“It’s starting to trend online.”

“ _Fuck_.”

“On the bright side, people seem excited,” Rose adds. “‘They look so cute together’ seems to be the consensus.”

“This is a disaster,” Rey moans into her hands just as her own phone dings with a message from Amilyn, asking them to be at the office as soon as possible.

***

Rose gives her hand a quick squeeze right before they step into Amilyn’s office. 

“I’m so glad you’re back, by the way,” Rey says to her in a frazzled whisper. She stops short when they catch sight of who’s in Amilyn’s office: Maz is there, along with Poe and Finn. All of them wearing serious expressions on their faces. She and Rose had gotten in touch with Finn on the way over and all he’d said was that they shouldn’t worry and that they would fix it. He flashes a reassuring smile, and then it’s gone.

“Rose, good to have you back,” Amilyn says, ushering them inside. “Both of you, please have a seat.”

“I’m so sorry,” Rey begins in earnest, not sure exactly what to say or why she feels she should apologize but thinking that it’s probably the best place to start. “I have no idea how they even—”

“Rey,” Amilyn interjects soothingly, “relax. I didn’t call you in for a reprimand. Granted, this situation is quite…out of the ordinary, but when Maz notified me about it this morning she already had a plan in mind.”

Maz goes to stand beside Amilyn, both of them leaning against the editor-in-chief’s desk. “I’ll be honest with you, Rey. My first instinct was to go into damage-control mode. Poe’s career is on the upswing, but it’s new enough that one wrong move could wreck everything.”

Rey glances at Poe, who does a cross between a smile and a wince.

“But then,” Maz continues, “it occurred to me that this is actually a good thing. It’s something that people in this business have done plenty of times before, just not quite so fortuitously. And, if handled correctly, it could work wonders.”

“I’m not sure I understand…” Rey can’t believe Maz is saying what she seems to be saying, making her wonder if she’s in the middle of a bad dream. 

“If you’ll agree to it, we’d like to keep up the charade. Just for a few weeks, ideally until the premiere.”

Rey’s head spins. “‘Keep up the charade?’ What does that mean? You want me to pretend to be Poe’s girlfriend?”

“Not to that extent. You’ll just be seen with him in public a couple of times—maybe having lunch, or out to dinner. Just hanging out.” Maz says this like she’s talking about doing laundry. 

“And you’re okay with this?” Rey asks Amilyn, genuinely confused. The struggle to wrap her mind around what’s going on feels almost like she’s underwater and moving against a current.

“It’s a favor to me, mostly,” Maz says, her voice laced with humor.

Amilyn has on that smile of hers that Rey can only describe as motherly. “Work-wise, I don’t think there’s much of an issue. You don’t usually cover entertainment, and you’ll be done with your Last Saber feature by today so this—arrangement, if you agree to it, isn’t likely to cloud your judgment. The way I see it, this is going to be a personal decision, and whichever way you decide is fine with me.”

Finally, Poe speaks. “Rey, I know you just met me and this probably sounds incredibly weird, so I want you to know that I’d love it if you’d say yes, but it’s also completely okay if you say no.”

“You really want to do this? I mean, it would really help you?”

“I trust Maz. And Finn. And I know they’ll make it as painless as possible for you to hang out with me,” he smiles.

Rey looks around the room and stops at Rose, communicating wordlessly. “Can I have a minute to think about it? I’ll just step out for a bit with Rose.” 

She turns to her roommate as soon as they’re outside Amilyn’s office. “This is crazy, right? I’m not the only one who thinks this is crazy?” 

Rose puts her hands on Rey’s shoulders to steady her and looks her in the eye. “It’s crazy. But also, not unheard of. In fact, you’d be surprised how often it happens in showbusiness.”

A long groan of frustration is all Rey can muster in response.

“Okay. I think the most important thing to think about is how you feel. Do you want to say no?”

“No,” Rey says honestly. If Amilyn didn’t have an issue with it and Poe was hoping she’d do it to help him, she should do it, right?

Rose nods. “In that case, can you tell me what else you’re worried about?”

“It…feels like lying, a little bit.”

Finn comes out of Amilyn’s office just then. “Rey, can I say something?” He runs a hand over his face, looking nervous. “I don’t want to pressure you, but there’s something else you should know that I couldn’t say in there.”

“What is it?”

“Thing is, yes, we’re hoping the publicity from this will help Poe’s career. But aside from that, the two of us—I mean, Poe and I—we’re together. It’s pretty new and we haven’t told Maz and it’s part of why Poe is worried, which he really shouldn’t be in this day and age, but long story short, he’s not ready to make that public yet. Or if he wants to. So for now, this seems like his best option.” Finn says all of this in a rush, like he’s been wanting to get it out for a while but couldn’t, and now that he was doing it he couldn’t restrain himself. Meanwhile, Rose and Rey are staring at him, stupefied.

It’s Rose who comes to her senses first, throws her arms around him and squeals a little. “How did you guys get together? When? Where? You have to tell us everything!”

Rey joins them in a group hug. “Oh, Finn, I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

“So you’re okay with doing this?” He pulls back to look at her. “I gotta say, it’ll be as much a relief to me as it would be to Poe, but again, it’s really up to you.”

She takes a deep breath, nods. “Yes. Let’s do it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive the delay--I was working on Chapter 3 when work got crazy. 
> 
> Every single comment, kudos, and bookmark is very much appreciated, thank you! <3
> 
> Let me know what you think?

“Ow.”

“Oops. Sorry!” Kaydel is curling Rey’s hair so it falls in soft waves at her shoulders, and the hot iron had slipped.

Rose is laughing behind them. “Are you sure you didn’t subconsciously do that on purpose, Kaydel?”

“Yes, my subconscious is mad that Rey is going on a date with my holonet boyfriend,” Kaydel says with a wink.

Rey snorts. Besides those who had been in Amilyn’s office the day she agreed to this charade, Kaydel was the only other person who knew. Maz would have preferred to limit it to the six of them, but Rose had convinced her to let them tell Kaydel so she could help with Rey’s makeup and clothes. Rey was only a little bit offended, she’d joked to her roommate.

“I still think this is a bit much. Haven’t people seen me with him the way I usually am, anyway?”

“Yes, but this is a wrap party,” Rose says for about the tenth time since it was decided that this would be Rey’s first “official” appearance with Poe. “It’s a little bit fancier than an afternoon coffee run.”

Rey crosses her eyes at the mirror and then goes back to editing an article on her laptop. Kaydel had come over to their apartment that afternoon with a small arsenal of hair products, cosmetics, and clothes, enough to cause Rey to balk at having to make this much of an effort for a party, but she knew they knew better. It was easier to let them take charge.

“I’m so glad your clothes fit Rey, Kaydel.” Rose is going through the pile of dresses on Rey’s bed. “I couldn’t find anything acceptable in her closet.”

Kaydel is amused. “What, Rey’s brand of librarian chic wouldn’t cut it?”

“I’m right here, you know,” Rey interjects, but doesn’t look up from her computer. Her email notification chimes as Rose and Kaydel discuss which dress she should wear.

\- - - 

To: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
From: chewie@holonetmail.com  
Subject: Chewie

Chewie was my dog when I was a kid. Played a lot of fetch with him while my mother filmed her movies. He ran right through a giant backdrop once; tore a hole so big they had to stop shooting for the day to patch it up. 

\- - -

There’s a sharp clench around her heart at the thought of a little boy having only his dog to play with while his parents were busy with work. When she was young, she’d thought just having a mother or father around would automatically make everything better. It never occurred to her that it could be just as lonely as having no one at all.

She’s thinking of a reply when Rose snatches her out of her reverie, holding up a dark green dress with a square neckline. “What do you think, Rey?” 

Rey nods. “Looks manageable.” She still hasn’t told Rose about the fact that she had burritos three nights before with Ben Solo, and the longer she held out the stranger it felt. She hadn’t meant to keep it from her roommate; there just hadn’t been a good time to mention it in a way that wouldn’t make it sound like a bigger deal than it was.

“Done,” Kaydel says, turning off the curling iron with a satisfied click. Rey’s eyes meet hers in the mirror. Besides the waves in her hair, she still looks pretty much like herself, and she sighs with relief. “You’ll do.” 

“Thanks,” Rey laughs. 

***

The Last Saber’s wrap party is being held in the pool area of an elegant boutique hotel that somehow reminds Rey of the small, hidden-away pockets of Covent Garden in London. The main lobby isn’t the typical opulent or ostentatious sort typical of the fanciest hotels, with its clean lines, polished marble floors, and cream-colored walls punctuated with black trim. She’d been there for an interview before and knew that the pool was on the fourth floor, on a spacious, open-air deck that had a view of the city.

“Just relax and don’t rush to the doors,” Finn reminds them as their car pulls up to the hotel driveway. He and Poe had picked her up from the apartment, and all three of them were in the backseat, Finn giving last-minute pointers. “We tipped someone off so they should be waiting, but give them time to get good photos. Maz is already there. The driver and I will be back later to pick you guys up.”

Rey nods, relieved that she’ll just need to remember to keep smiling from the time they step out of the car until they get into the hotel, and that she’ll be able to relax once they’re inside. They’d gone as far as to discuss whether she and Poe should hold hands—it was probably the strangest conversation Rey had ever had in her life—but ultimately decided to let things just happen naturally. 

“Ready?” Poe asks her with a smile. 

“Ready,” she replies, smoothing down the front of her dress. He opens the car door just as a doorman approaches.

“Don’t worry, you look great,” Poe whispers in her ear as he helps her out of the car.

“Thanks,” she smiles at him, feeling his hand resting lightly on the small of her back as they head to the hotel doors.

There’s no sign of the paparazzo that Finn mentioned, but then that’s probably what makes him good at his job. Rey exhales as soon as they’re through the lobby and in the elevator, only then realizing she’d been holding her breath.

Poe lets out a short laugh. “Okay, now we can officially party.”

“That wasn’t so bad.” Rey leans against the back of the elevator for a bit. “How did the last few days of filming go, anyway?”

“Pretty well. Most of the scenes were easy enough. They’re really in a hurry to get this movie out; things got a bit delayed in the middle of production so they have a tight deadline for post-production.”

“Must be exciting.” 

“And kind of terrifying,” Poe admits.

The pool area is decorated with hundreds of string lights that cast a soft glow on white lounge chairs and cocktail tables, most of them already occupied by partygoers. A DJ is playing music in one corner, the upbeat tempo sounding incongruous to Rey given the stillness of the dark blue and violet of dusk.

They are absorbed into a wave of co-stars and crew members holding drinks and greeting her warmly as Poe makes introductions, only saying “This is Rey” and then launching into animated conversations with an easy friendliness. For Rey, who’s always found it a bit of a struggle to come up with things to casually talk about with people she’d just met, it is a wondrous thing to watch, and much of their first hour at the party is spent slowly inching their way from one end of the deck to another as Poe chats with almost everyone. 

She finds herself looking for broad shoulders and dark hair, wanting to see him again and dreading it at the same time. She’s pretty sure he wouldn’t be aware of what the online rumor mills have churned out in relation to his co-star’s love life, and deep down she also knows she’d rather avoid involving him in the deception—she isn’t ready to let go of the newfound easiness between them. But if he was around, she couldn’t see him.

It’s someone else’s entrance who catches her eye as she’s starting on her second cocktail and chatting with Poe and Maz. The tall blonde probably draws everyone’s attention wherever she goes, and she walks through the party with a confidence that says she’s used to it. She spots Poe and makes a beeline for the three of them.

“Hey, Tash!” Poe hugs her in greeting before she exchanges cheek kisses with Maz. “Been wondering where you were. This is Rey Niima. Rey, Tash Arranda.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rey says, shaking her hand.

“If you kids will excuse me, I see someone I’ve been wanting to catch up with,” Maz says before heading off.

Tash’s perfect lips turn up. “Rey from The Dispatch. I heard you were asking about Ben’s…process.”

Rey takes a sip of her drink to buy herself time to formulate a reply. Did Ben tell her about their interview? “It didn’t end well. But hey, worth a try, right?” She jokes, shrugging.

Tash laughs. “Ben’s got a lot of walls up. But deep down he’s a softie.” 

She is saved from having to say anything by Poe, who brings up a scene they worked on right before filming wrapped. Rey takes the opportunity to excuse herself to go to the ladies’ room, the night air suddenly feeling warm. She washes her hands with cold water, pats cold hands on splotchy cheeks and sighs. _Just a little longer, and then you can spend the rest of the night in your pajamas eating ice cream at home_ , she thinks to herself.

Deciding to take the long way back to where Poe is still talking to Tash, Rey looks out at the city lights visible from the deck’s glass railing. She’s taken out her phone and is replying to Rose’s _How is it going??_ when a shadow falls over her screen. Her head snaps up. 

“Someone seems bored.” Ben is standing two feet in front of her, looking amused. 

A smile breaks out across Rey’s face. “Did I miss your dramatic entrance?”

“I don’t know what you mean; I’ve been here for hours,” he says, mock offended. 

“I think I would have seen your head towering above everyone else’s,” she replies with a grin. “Not big on parties?”

“I was threatened with having to do more interviews if I didn’t show up,” He smiles back, and then: “No, that’s not true, I don’t mind wrap parties. It’s nice to be able to thank the crew for all their hard work.”

“Everyone’s really nice.” Rey nods, her gaze wandering over the party.

“There’s something on your…” His voice trails away, and his right hand has gone up to lightly brush away a lock of her hair from where her skin still has a red mark, in the curve where her neck meets her shoulder. 

“Oh, from a curling iron,” she says sheepishly, ignoring the way her heart skips. 

“Aah, I was wondering what looked different about you.”

She laughs so hard she almost snorts. “All that effort for nothing,” she complains with fake dismay. “My ego thanks you.”

And there it is again, that smile that makes the corners of his eyes crinkle. 

Ben turns to the railing and leans his arms against it, looking out over the city, and she turns too, her arm brushing briefly against his sleeve. A comfortable silence settles between them as the buzz of the party continues in the background, the DJ now playing a more mellow song.

“Did you ever get another dog, after Chewie?” Rey asks him.

“No. I couldn’t.” He admits. “I was 14 when he died, and I think it was the first time I realized it’s hard to feel like you could become so attached again, after a loss like that.”

She watches his profile—strong nose, full lashes forming lush fans above his eyes. “And you still wouldn’t, even now?”

“Now I might,” he glances at her and she looks quickly back at the skyline, embarrassed to have been caught staring. They are quiet for a little longer, and then he gestures at the night sky. “So, can you identify all these?”

“You mean the constellations? Some,” she starts tracing with a forefinger. “That’s Lacerta, close to Cassiopeia. She was apparently very beautiful but very vain and ended up turning into stone—that’s a very rough summary.”

Ben huffs in amusement. 

“She was married to Cepheus. That one kind of looks like a house, see?”

His brows are furrowed at the part of the sky she’s pointing to. “A house?”

Rey laughs. “Yes, like this,” she takes his left hand and traces lightly on his palm: a square that’s askew with a triangle above it. 

She’s just finished her imaginary drawing when she realizes what she’s doing, and she gently lets go of his hand. Her fingertip feels oddly electric, and he’s looking at her with something like a question in his eyes.

“Rey? Our ride’s here if you’re ready to go.” Poe has come up behind them. He gives Ben a friendly slap on the shoulder. “Hey, man, I think Tash is looking for you.”

A small frown starts to form on Ben’s mouth as he looks at Poe and then at Rey. 

“I think I’ll go to the ladies’ room,” she says quickly, turning on her heel without waiting for a response. She didn’t care if Poe thought she was incontinent, she just needed to get away from there. 

The ladies’ room is blessedly empty, and she stops just inside the door to take deep breaths. She counts slowly in her head from one to ten, then goes back out and makes her way to the doorway leading to the hotel elevators, ready to call Poe on her phone if she had to so he could meet her there. 

She lets out a sigh of relief when she sees him near the exit. “Sorry about that,” she says with a bright smile. “I’m ready to go.”

He’s quiet as they wait for the elevator to arrive. 

“I didn’t tell him anything,” Poe says to her when they’re alone and on their way down to the ground floor. 

“Hm? Who?”

Poe rolls his eyes. “Rey. I’m not blind. I’m sorry if I interrupted anything.”

She shakes her head. “There was nothing to interrupt.”

“Okay. Well, just…I’m here if you want to talk about it. I know Finn would be too.”

Rey scrunches her eyes closed in frustration. “Oh, Poe, please don’t tell Finn. I have no idea what’s going on.”

He waits for her to continue.

“We’re friends. I mean, I think we are,” she starts. “And I feel terrible because now I feel like I’m—lying to him, almost?” She waves her hand between them. “But I don’t feel bad that I’m doing it, I love that I’m helping you out. So, I just feel like…shit.” 

“Rey, do you want me to tell him? I mean, he and I aren’t best friends or whatever, but I’d do it.”

“No… I don’t know. Also, why, right? It’s not like any of this has anything to do with him. Imagine how strange it would be to just tell him out of the blue, ‘By the way, we’re just pretending to be dating, in case you want to ask her out.’” The thought of it makes her cringe.

“Well, he didn’t say anything when you left but he sure looked like he wanted to punch something. Or me. Most likely me.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Emotional constipation ahead

“We have to go back.”

“What?” Poe is looking at her like she’s speaking a foreign language.

“We have to go back up. I need to tell him.” The elevator dings their arrival on the ground floor and Rey is already reaching to reclose the doors. She could feel adrenaline start to shoot through her bloodstream. She could do this. 

“Rey, he left.” Poe’s voice is subdued and tinged with regret as he holds the doors and gestures for her to exit. “While you were in the ladies’ room.”

“Oh,” she says, a wave of disappointment causing her mind to go momentarily blank as he guides her to the car that’s waiting in the hotel driveway.

“What’s wrong?” Finn’s concern is immediate and for some crazy reason, she feels tears of frustration prick at the back of her eyes. She blinks them away.

Suddenly, she knows exactly what she wants to do. She turns to Finn, her mouth set with determination.

“Do you know where Ben Solo lives?”

“What?” Finn is incredulous. “I don’t—”

Poe places a hand on one of Finn’s. “You can find out from someone at work, right? We’ll fill you in on the way there.”

There is confusion on Finn’s face but he makes a call anyway, and after a few minutes he’s giving the driver an address. Rey’s heart is pounding in her chest. She’s vaguely aware that Poe is quietly getting Finn caught up on the evening’s events, but can’t bring herself to say anything. Her mouth is too dry.

What exactly is she going to say to Ben? Where would she even start? What would she do if it turned out he didn’t care what the hell she did with Poe? She wasn’t sure about a lot of things, but she was pretty sure she’d probably burst if she didn’t talk to him again tonight.

She’s absorbed in her own thoughts and barely paying attention to where they’re going; all she knows is they’re driving through a secluded-looking road that’s flanked by imposing, grandiose mansions and she’s starting to feel queasy.

The car stops before a house that—to Rey’s relief—is sprawling but not overly elaborate. 

“This is it, according to the address that Tallie gave me,” says Finn. “We’ll wait out here, okay? We’ll drive a little further down the road but just text or give us a thumbs-up or something if you’re good. We’ll wait or we could send the driver back; whatever works.”

“Okay.” She looks at the two of them and takes a deep breath. Poe flashes her a big smile. She grins back. “Thank you,” she says, then opens the door.

Not wanting to give herself time for any second-guessing, she walks briskly to the house and presses the doorbell firmly. She hears it echo inside for a minute or two before the door swings open. 

Her greeting dies in her throat as she comes face to face with Tash Arranda for the second time that night.

“Rey?” 

“Tash, hello,” Rey says automatically, struck dumb. Her heart has dropped to the base of her stomach and she’s gone cold all over. “I…there’s something I needed to talk about with Ben.”

“Oh,” Tash glances behind her, visibly hesitant. “Sure…I don’t know where he’s disappeared to actually, but…do you want to come in?”

Rey opens her mouth to say yes and then stops. If Tash is here then surely she would just be making a fool of herself if she told Ben that she’s not really dating Poe? She feels her skin prickle and heat spreads over her face. “Um, maybe I’ll just talk to him another time. It’s fine. It’s late. Thanks, Tash.”

“Wait, are you sure?” 

“Yes, sorry, this was all a spur-of-the-moment impulse; I’ll just email,” she lies, smiling and backing away. 

She finds the car less than ten feet down the road and hurries inside, slamming the door closed as soon as she’s in. Finn and Poe are looking at her expectantly. “Let’s get out of here, please.”

“What happened?” Finn looks worried. 

“Tash was there.”

Poe groans. “They left the party together but I didn’t think they were _together_.”

“So you didn’t talk to him?” Finn looks incredulous.

“Of course not! He has. A woman. At his house,” Rey exclaims. “And not just any woman, by the way! His love interest.”

“In a _movie_ ,” Finn counters. “Rey, you should have talked to him.”

“And say what, that I have a _crush_ on him? Do you want him to think I’m a stalker?” She feels hysterical laughter bubbling up from her chest at the absurdity of it all. 

“At least you wouldn’t be left wondering if there was something there!”

“Oh, Finn, obviously there was nothing!” The laughter finally comes out, more horrified than humorous, and Rey is filled with both relief and embarrassment thinking about how close she came to humiliating herself.

They carry on arguing as Poe tries to referee. 

“If you’d just sucked it up and been honest with him…”

Finally, Rey calmly puts up a hand. “Finn, it’s okay.” She gives him a small smile. “I’m okay.”

***

The clock in her computer tells her she’d been staring at her monitor for twenty minutes. She had loaded an article on an astrophysicist that she was looking into doing a feature on for the next issue, and while she was excited to do it, she just couldn’t get herself to concentrate. 

Every email alert made her check her inbox immediately, hoping to see that familiar address, which obviously was ridiculous. She was so distracted she’d resorted to checking out the gossip sites—the photos of her and Poe heading into the wrap party had surfaced three days before and, according to Finn, had produced the desired results. But there was nothing on Ben. Or Tash, for that matter. 

“Guess what I’ve got,” Rose announces as she pops her head into Rey’s office with something hidden behind her. 

“What?” 

“It’s the new issue!” Rose reveals the magazine with a flourish. “First few copies arrived today.”

The cover featured the photo that Snap had taken of Ben—barely smiling, of course—and Poe, both of them looking like the troublemaking rogues they were meant to be playing. Rey flips to the article and finds herself transfixed by a photo of Ben in that black sweater he’d been wearing, eyes steady on the camera. 

“Rey? You okay?”

Her face must have clouded over. She leans back in her chair and sighs. “There’s something I haven’t told you.”

“What do you mean?” Rose leans against her desk, frowning.

Rey tells her roommate the whole story, from how she overheard Ben saying he didn’t want to do the interview, to what happened at the party, and what happened after. She feels herself cringe inwardly as she admits out loud that she had somehow ended up thinking she shared a connection with Ben Solo, famous movie star whose work pretty much entailed keeping up appearances. 

“How can you be so sure he didn’t feel a connection to you too?”

“Well, does that even matter anymore? Even if he did—which we’d just be assuming—it doesn’t mean anything. His world is so completely different from ours, and mine wasn’t even supposed to come into contact with his, if you think about it. All I have to do now is get through the premiere if Maz decides they still need me to, and then everything will go back to the way it was.”

Rose looks like she’s considering what to say next when Amilyn knocks lightly on the door. “Oh, good, Rose showed you the new issue. Rey, could you take care of sending copies to Ben and Poe? Thanks!” She’s gone again before Rey can reply.

“You want me to do it?” Rose says sympathetically, knowing that Amilyn meant ‘send copies with a note to say thank you for the exclusive’ and not ‘put a couple of magazines in the mail.’

Rey laughs. “It’s alright, I think I can handle a thank-you note.”

***

There have been a handful of red-carpet premieres that Rey has gotten to attend as Rose’s plus-one, and they’d always been flashy events she’d enjoyed enough as a spectator—she was fascinated by everything going on in real life that doesn’t always get shown by the cameras. There are the almost-frantic publicists and publicists’ assistants constantly running around, herding their celebrity charges, and the media people with their mics lining one side of the red carpet, waiting to get soundbites.

Nothing, though, prepared her for the sheer enormity of the red-carpet premiere for The Last Saber. She got a bit of an indication that it would be big when Maz suggested they get her a stylist for the event rather than having Kaydel help her. But she didn’t really grasp the scope of it until she was in the limo with Poe and they had to slow down two blocks from the theater because of all the cars waiting to let out passengers, aside from all the people along the street watching everything unfold.

“Excited?” Rey asks Poe, who looks a little bit pale.

“Yeah, just nervous about the red-carpet interviews.”

“You’ll be fine,” she nudges him lightly with her shoulder and smiles. “Just don’t forget to keep a smile on that billboard-worthy face of yours.” She tilts her head toward the top of one of the low-rise buildings near the theater, where there’s a giant billboard for The Last Saber that features Poe and Ben as their smuggler characters, holding laser blasters. 

Rey’s nerves have had her on edge all day, partly from the thought of having to walk the red carpet with Poe and partly from knowing she’d see Ben again. There had been very little contact between them since the wrap party, save for when Rey sent him a copy of The Dispatch’s new issue. _Thank you for taking the time to talk to a space nerd_ , she’d written on a sticky note, and signed it with a smiley face. 

He had emailed a couple of days later.

\- - -

To: rey.niima@thedispatch.com  
From: chewie@holonetmail.com  
Subject: Thank you

Thanks for sending me a copy—enjoyed your article on the Millennium Falcon engineer. The full-page close-up of my face, not so much.

\- - -

There were dozens of replies left in her email drafts folder, none of which she’s yet had the nerve to send.

“Rey, I’ve been thinking about this for days,” Poe’s sudden seriousness takes her aback. “And I’ve talked to Maz about it. I’m ready to tell everyone about me and Finn.”

“Poe, that’s great.” She gives him a quick hug, genuinely happy for him.

“She’s arranging a press conference for tomorrow. Are you okay with me coming clean about this?” 

“About me being your fake girlfriend? Sure,” she smiles.

He chuckles. “I’ll say we were hanging out as friends.”

“We’ll still be hanging out as friends, I hope,” she arches an eyebrow. “With Finn and Rose.”

“Right,” he nods, smiling. “Of course.” The car pulls up to the red carpet and Rey has just enough time to do a quick last-minute check of her appearance before someone opens the door. 

The strobe-like effect of dozens of camera flashes going off at once explodes into view as Poe helps her out of the car. Photographers are yelling over each other, trying to get good shots: “Poe!” and “Here!” and “To your right!” She looks down the length of the red carpet, which seems much longer than she’d anticipated, and her breath catches when she spots Ben a few meters ahead, tall and dapper in his black suit but scowling a little as he paused for photos. 

He glances back just then and catches sight of her. Their eyes lock. Her lips turn up in a tentative smile. His expression seems to soften a split second before Tallie urges him to move on, cutting the moment short. He turns away to continue down the carpet.

Rey hangs back a little from Poe through the photo-taking unless asked to stand beside him, one of Tallie’s colleagues guiding them the entire time. Her cheeks are aching by the time she can step away while Poe goes down the line of red-carpet interviewers.

“How’re you holding up?” Finn asks. Large screens have been put up all around the theater so fans could watch from wherever they are standing, and a short program would be broadcast before the start of the movie. While the red-carpet interviews are happening, though, the host for the program walks around with a mic, chatting with fans. Rey and Finn are in the theater’s backstage area, waiting for Poe to join them. Rose is already in her seat.

“All good,” Rey says cheerfully. She really does feel upbeat—she’s done what she can for Poe, work is back to normal in that she’s researching scientists and academics again, and she’s at the world premiere of what’s sure to be a really good movie. It was easy to decide to just revel in the moment and forget the fluttering in her stomach every time she got a glimpse of Ben.

“You looked like a natural out there, by the way,” Finn says. 

“I imagined them all naked.” Rey cracks with a grin just as a small commotion announces the stars’ arrival backstage. 

It’s Ben that she sees first. “Hi,” she greets him with what she hopes is a voice that sounds normal. 

“Hey,” he looks around at everyone and then settles on her. “You look really nice tonight.”

Rey can feel her face start to flush. “Thank you…so do you. How did the red-carpet interviews go?”

“Not so bad, actually.”

Poe comes in then, visibly in high spirits. “Thank you for reminding me to smile, Rey. Or I would’ve ended up on camera looking constipated,” he says immediately to Rey, squeezing her shoulder affectionately. 

“Dameron, you look constipated even when you _are_ smiling,” Ben comments.

Rey unsuccessfully stifles a giggle.

“Whatever, Solo. Rey likes my smile just fine,” Poe puts his arm around her, a mischievous grin forming on his face. She can hear Finn choking back laughter and she rolls her eyes, amused.

“Are you sure she’s not tired of it yet?” Ben asks with a smile and a raised eyebrow, his gaze locked on Rey. 

Poe is prevented from replying when Tash arrives—their cue that the program is about to begin. Rey and Finn take their seats as the host starts the show. 

The crowded theater quiets down, the lights dim. The Last Saber’s director, along with the movie’s three leads, are introduced onto the stage to loud cheers and applause.

“I know everyone’s excited to see the movie so we’ll make this short,” the host smiles at the audience. She asks the director a couple of questions, as well as Poe and Tash, but Rey can’t take her eyes off Ben and watches as he listens to his co-stars. She wonders if the host has been instructed to limit the number of questions for him.

And then: “Ben,” she says finally. “I got a peek at the exclusive interview with you and Poe in The Dispatch.”

Rey’s heart is suddenly in her throat.

“I have to say I got a lot of insight into how you approach your roles. Can fans expect a more candid Ben Solo from now on?”

Her seat’s armrest feels cool where she is gripping it. Rey is anxious for this unsuspecting girl onstage, wondering if she’s in for a cutting reply.

Ben looks amused. “Maybe. If it’s the right person doing the asking.”

To anyone else, it sounded like he was smoothly evading a question while being playful. But he looks out into the audience and seems to know exactly where Rey is sitting, finding her instantly, a faint ghost of a smile almost reaching pensive dark eyes. 

***

It is not a surprise when the audience ends up bursting into enthusiastic applause as soon as the credits begin to roll. The movie is a fun but smart romp, Ben and Poe’s characters always ready with witty one-liners that are dropped casually in the middle of blaster fights and daring escape sequences. Rey finds herself feeling invested in their ill-advised but well-intentioned adventure, and can’t deny the very evident chemistry between Ben and Tash—she feels the urge to look away when they share a kiss onscreen, but sits through it.

Part of her had hoped that Ben would be sitting nearby for the movie—all the leads were in the same row, after all—but he’d disappeared altogether after the program. So now she takes a quick scan around the room as soon as they arrive at the after-party, and feels deflated when she doesn’t see him. Tash, on the other hand, is at the far side of the room, surrounded by a group of other party guests.

Finn knows Rey well enough to be able to tell what’s bothering her. “He apparently has to fly out tonight; his next movie is shooting on location in Chandrila.”

Rey nods and plasters a smile on her face, then makes a decision. “Would you guys mind if I left early? I’m feeling a little tired.”

“You okay?” Rose is beside her in seconds, frowning. “Maybe I’ll just go home with you.”

“No, really, I’m fine, I just want to go home and kind of hibernate, you know? I’ve had enough social interaction to last me for a few months,” Rey jokes. “Also you should stay because you need to network.”

The three of them are looking at her doubtfully. She lets out an exasperated laugh. “Seriously. Have fun.”

They are finally convinced. After making her exit, Rey hops into the car that had brought them to the premiere and leans back with eyes closed through the whole drive, grateful for the solitude. She is crazily tempted to ask the driver to go to the airport in some half-formed plan to find Ben and talk to him, then realizes he would hate drawing attention that way.

Instead she lets herself imagine what it might have been like if she’d been honest enough with herself, earlier on. If she could have kept herself from thinking of him as just another spoiled celebrity who had to play nice because he was forced into it by his publicity team. She wonders what it would have been like if she’d had it in herself to admit that she liked him, despite knowing that it was probably the worst thing she could ever have done just for the simple fact of who he was.

She’s lost in thought the rest of the way home and only shakes it off when the car is taking the turn to their street and slowing down. 

Rey looks out the window and her heart clenches. Ben is sitting on the stoop of her duplex. 

He stands as she steps out of the car. He’s still in his suit, though the tie has been discarded and the top button of his shirt is undone. He runs his fingers through his hair and lets out a short, wry laugh. 

“I’m not sure why I ended up here, exactly—”

“I was thinking of sending you—”

They both stop, bright hazel eyes looking into deep brown filled with mirth.

“I was thinking of writing you an email,” she admits laughingly, then pauses. “Wait, I thought you had a flight to catch.”

He shrugs. “I figured it could wait.” His dark gaze is steady on her face as he takes a step closer, his lips quirked. “Email, really?” 

“I…needed to tell you something,” she says, her breathing suddenly shallow. 

“And what’s that?” He’s so close she can feel the heat coming from his chest.

“I went to the wrap party and the premiere with Poe,” her voice is almost a whisper. She bites her lip, thinking of how to continue. His eyes flick down to her mouth and her breath catches. “As a favor. For show. To help his career.” She’s lost the ability to form complete sentences.

Ben nods slowly and asks, his voice soft, “Anything else?”

“No,” she says. “Just…”

He raises an eyebrow. She can see the tiny flecks of gold in his irises. 

“I’d really like to get another burrito with you,” she says.

His laughter is low, a rumbling in his chest that she can feel as her heart squeezes. 

“I’d really, really like to kiss you right now,” his voice is a husky murmur. 

She nods as her eyes slide closed, giving in to the urge to pull him closer. His hands cradle her face as his mouth slants over hers, his lips soft but firm and insistent and she yields with a soft moan in the back of throat, letting him deeper into her mouth in a hot, wet duel that causes an electric tingle all the way down to her toes. She is breathless when they finally break apart, her heart pounding.

Her eyes fly open. She blurts out the question that has popped into her head, unbidden. “What about Tash?” 

Ben pulls back with a confused look on his face. “What about her?”

“Aren’t you seeing each other? I went to your house on an impulse that night and she was there—”

He starts to laugh: a deep, hearty laugh that’s filled with genuine amusement. “So _this_ was why you went to my house. She told me you were there.”

She looks at him with an eyebrow up. 

“Rey, she’s a good friend; she was there because she knew something was bothering me,” he pauses thoughtfully. “I was wondering why you came by. I was hoping it was to tell me you left Dameron’s ass at the party,” he grins.

“He did say you looked like you wanted to punch something,” she replies cheekily. Ben smiles and leans down again, but she puts a hand on his chest. “We can’t make out in front of my apartment,” she laughs.

His forehead is touching hers and he’s smiling wide. “Take me inside, then.”

She takes his hand and pulls him to the door, digging her keys out of her clutch. “I’m amazed no one’s walked by and recognized you. How long were you waiting?”

“Maybe ten minutes. The first five, I spent sitting in my car thinking about leaving,” he admits ruefully.

Rey turns to look up at him. They’re inside, finally, and he’s so large he makes the living room seem suddenly small. She takes a step and then her fingers tangle with the soft hair at his nape as he hauls her against him, his lips finding hers again so he can explore her mouth languidly but thoroughly. 

“I’ve been thinking of doing that since you told me I should wear a disguise to go out,” he whispers later, against the corner of her mouth.

“I’ve been thinking of doing this since I saw you on the red carpet with a scowl on your face,” she chuckles against him, nipping at his bottom lip. “I was tempted to ditch Poe then and there.”

“Oh, yes, Poe,” he pulls away but looks amused. “How long is that going to be happening?”

“It’s already over. He’s coming clean tomorrow.”

Ben nods, relief evident on his face. “How did it get started, anyway?”

“Someone got a photo of us when we were walking to a cafe, the day that I did your interviews. I guess his fans were into it,” she shrugs. 

He looks away thoughtfully for a while, then looks back at her. “I wasn’t sure if you hated me or liked me or was just pretending to like me because you had to. I was horrified when I found out you heard what I said to Tallie.” He pauses and runs a hand through his hair again. “After Artie’s I was sure you didn’t hate me, but—well, you know the rest.”

Her heart feels like it might explode. Rey holds his jaw gently. “Ben Solo, I could never hate you. Even when you thought I was a half-baked journalist.”

Ben laughs softly, putting his hand over hers. “Guess I was the one with all the asinine ideas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware that the premiere of a film usually comes months (or years) after filming wraps, I hope you'll indulge that bit of stretching. :)
> 
> [How I pictured Rey.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9f/43/81/9f438143d4c27f9aefa99f8477bc823e.jpg)  
> 
> 
> [How I pictured Ben.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4a/90/db/4a90db0bc0d5d1d07202c381da650acf.jpg)
> 
> Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for coming along on this ride with me. This was an impulsive first attempt at SW fic and I had no beta, and halfway through it occurred to me that I'd bitten off more than I could chew, but it was fun and I am so grateful for the encouragement (whether in the form of kudos, comments, or bookmarks). Thank you so much for reading!


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